Leak, or storm water?
The quickest way to tell them apart is timing, and it is the first thing we ask on the phone.
Water that appears after rain, and dries out between falls,
is almost always storm water. Roof water, or surface water off paving, that the drainage is no longer taking away.
Water that is there regardless of the weather,
including through a dry February, is a pressure leak. That is a detection job. Leak detection
Water that is worse after rain but never entirely goes
can be both, and on older blocks it often is. A soakwell that is overwhelmed keeps the ground saturated, and saturated ground hides a leak that would otherwise have shown itself.
We would rather sort out which one you have before quoting anything, because the two jobs have nothing in common.
Why Bull Creek yards do this
Bull Creek is a suburb of detached houses — about 79% of occupied dwellings at the 2021 Census — on blocks laid out through the 1970s. Two things follow from that.
The soakwells are as old as the house. Concrete soakwells do not fail dramatically. They silt up. Leaf litter, sand and fine material wash in over decades until the chamber that was sized for the roof is holding a fraction of what it used to. Nothing looks broken. It simply stopped keeping up some years ago and nobody noticed until a wet winter.
The roof area has usually grown. Fifty years of patios, carports, extensions, sheds and paved entertaining areas have been added to blocks whose drainage was sized for the original house. More water arrives at the same underground capacity, and the surplus has to surface somewhere.
The sand cuts both ways here. It normally drains so freely that problems stay hidden — right up until the soakwell is full and the ground around it is saturated, at which point water appears at the surface fast and in an odd place.
What we see most
Water pooling against the house
The worst version, because it sits against footings and brickwork rather than draining away from them. Usually a downpipe discharging to a soakwell that is no longer taking it.
A downpipe that surcharges in heavy rain
Water backing up and spilling from the top of a downpipe or a gutter joint means the pipe below is full. The gutter is not the problem.
Paving that has started to sink
Fine material washing into a failed chamber takes the ground with it. Sinking paving beside a soakwell is a good clue about what the chamber is doing.
A boggy corner that never dries
Where roof water is discharging to a low point instead of into drainage.
Storm water and sewer confusion
Two separate systems. Water appearing only after rain is storm water. Water appearing after a shower or a load of washing is sewer. Blocked drains
What the work involves
Working out where the water is actually coming from
Roof, surface, or a pressure line that has been blamed on the weather. This is the step that decides everything else.
Checking what the existing drainage is doing
Where the downpipes run, what they discharge into, and whether the chambers are still taking water or have silted up.
A written price
Once it is clear what is failing and what the property needs, you get the price in writing before any work starts. Transparent pricing, no hidden costs, no obligation.
What we will tell you honestly
Sometimes the answer is that the drainage is fine and the ground is wet because a pressure line is leaking under it. Sometimes it is the reverse — a bill that has been blamed on a hidden leak, with a yard soaked by a soakwell that stopped working two winters ago. Hidden water leaks
We would rather find that out at the quote stage than have you pay for the wrong job. The call-out is $0 either way, so it costs you nothing to get the right answer first.
When it matters most
Water sitting against footings, or running back toward a house rather than away from it, is worth dealing with before the next wet stretch rather than during it. Perth's rain arrives in bursts, and a system that is already at capacity has nowhere to absorb one.
If water is actively entering the building, ring it in as urgent. Emergency plumbing
Licences and hours
Plumbing licence 8396 and gas licence 13098, held by Tim, who does the work. Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 4:00pm. $0 call-out fee, free quote, and a written price before anything starts.